Alwal breaks record for Lady Bulldogs

November 12, 2011

Mississippi State freshman center Martha Alwal didn't waste any time entering the record book in her women's college basketball career.
Alwal broke the school' record in blocks in the 78-41 season-opening win over Jacksonville State Friday night.
MSU had 14 blocks as a team, which also set a school record, and Alwal led the Lady Bulldogs with 10 to break the record that was originally set by Diamber Johnson in February of last season.
"I'm excited, I'm really excited about it," said Alwal. "I feel that I did well, but could also do better on offense by crashing the board and being stronger."
Alwal, who was playing in her first collegiate game Friday night, also had 11 rebounds to give her a double-double.Â
"I'm very proud of her," said Fanning-Otis. "I will continue to push her but I'm proud of what she's done, but we still have a lot of work to do."
Alwal's double-double wasn't the only impressive stat of the night as Johnson scored 30 points and was out-scoring the entire Jacksonville State team for most of the game.
"I wasn't really paying attention and tried not to look at the scoreboard," said Johnson about her 30-point performance. "I was just playing and not really worrying about what was going on with my points situation."Â
Led by Johnson, the Lady Bulldogs picked up their first win in blowout fashion, but Fanning-Otis thinks there is work still to be done.
"Finding a way to win and finding a way to get better is what we need to do," said Fanning-Otis. "We still have to work on penetration and guarding players better, but I'm very proud that we kept them under 30 percent from the field and we shot 47 percent. We have to continue to shoot better so we can reach that 50 percent mark."
The win puts Fanning-Otis five wins away from her 600th career victory, and her Lady Bulldogs will be in action Monday at 7 p.m. against Xavier.